Blackjax wrote:
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Amanda Knox <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Date: Wednesday, October 27, 1999 10:50 AM
> Subject: Re: [issues] Depression & geeks
>
> >You know what's strange? (but maybe it's not so strange, really) I find the
> >ratio of depressed to non-depressed people is _much_ higher in the geek
> >community. Almost everyone I know who's seriously into computers has some
> kind
> >of depression or bi-polar disorder. I wonder why that is? I don't think
> being
> >'into' the computer culture causes depression (although many jobs are
> indeed
> >stressful and could be the cause of some mental duress) but rather the
> computer
> >culture seems to attract people with depression/bi-polar/other mental
> disorders.
> >Discuss!
>
> I hope I don't get too philosophical here but this is my perspective on it.
> I
> have never been diagnosed as depressed nor taken drugs for the purpose of
> altering my mood, but I have been seriously depressed at times and seen
> it in others. My opinion is that people who tend to get depressed are
> people
> who tend to seek the 'why' of things and often come up with a good answer.
> This trait is a hallmark of intelligent people and geeks in particular.
> People
> who can simply live life without questioning it or looking at it too deeply
> seem
> to have an easier time of it. These people need not face truths that deeper
> thinkers cannot avoid, and sometimes those truths can be really tough to
> take.
>
> Thats just my 2 cents.
>
> ************
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.linuxchix.org
Dunno if this is an issues group idea, or a grrrltalk idea. I think that if you
think thru things you do come against "full reality", which can be disturbing.
I think of very vanilla strict christian friends. They are happy in their closed
world. Same way with some West Virginians. do the same. Well I work my job for 8
hours, don't like the work, I go to the bar for 4 hours afterwards and I go home
and I am with my family. What's wrong with that. Lots of things of things are
taken "as nature", that's the way it is, somethings never change.
It is female geek related, because here there is still HEAVY RESENTMENT to women
going outside the "Men's Work" which broadly means anything away from front
office and beauty school, and now maybe college, but it is OK, because they are
just there to work on their MRS degree. Lots of guys believe that all over the
country, here curiously women believe a lot of it too.
Both my aunts, worked in factories, one is good at Carpernty, she learned from
her father (my grandfather) but never considered taking a carpenter's job. It
just wasn't done and never crossed her mind. Even though butter fingers me still
asks her at 80+ "How does this go together?"
Computer technology is a weird special case. Some secretly hope for a real Y2K
jobs so a simpler way of life can be re-installed. It is so new, so no one knows
what to make of it. Before it was just for weirdoes. But now it is weirdos mixed
with money, and it has become a source of scariness and enticement.
It is becoming important as heavy industry is dying, but the general culture
around here is not attractive to techies. It is very conservative, heavy
industry related, and sex role divided. So I don't know. But if the court ruling
holds strip mining is shut down, and thus something else will have to be looked
for....but the ATMOSPHERE IS NOT GOOD FOR TECHIES AND OR WOMEN.
Have Fun,
Sends Steve
************
[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.linuxchix.org
